Crossing the Rubicon

There's been a lot of fuss made over the past couple of years about 40k's new Primaris marines, about existing characters being upgraded and the doom of the traditional space marines. 

There's some validity to it all, but, something most people forget, or simply don't know, is that a similar change happened almost 30 years ago. 

Back in first edition, in Rogue Trader, marines started with profiles barely advanced from the humble Guardsman, with power armour that gave a 4+ save. A 4+ save was a big thing back then, and the other means of getting it - Carapace armour or layers, such as mesh and flak - came with movement penalties and other downsides. Back then, the S4 of the bolter made it an enviable weapon. Marines were a  powerful force. The miniatures, dating from before or around the time that marines became superhuman giants, were small by modern standards, about shoulder height to a modern traditional marine, mostly single-piece (except  for backpack) and wearing mark 6 armour

In 1990, which will soon be 30 years ago, Citadel released the Strike Force boxed set, containing 5 each of 3 new mark 7 marines, with plastic arms, weapons, shoulder pads, etc. These new marines stood straighter and taller, had larger, smoother, more streamlined armour, and even had 2 shoulder pads that could take details rather than the maybe-one of the predecessors. This launch was heralded with 2 articles in White Dwarf 129. The first gave us the idea of marks of armour, and gave us some of the first lore on the Unification Wars, the Thunder Warriors and the Great Crusade.

The second deserves its own paragraph, since it's the reason for this post. 

The second article made adjustments to the marines, to make them more in keeping with the lore. Their Strength and Toughness increased, their powered armour went up to 3+, they gained an Attack on the charge, and, if stationary, could fire their bolters twice. This profile change and addition of new rules is something of the scale of the modern crossing of the Rubicon Primaris. 

Of course, little fuss was made about it in general, since GW only had about 30 stores, and there was only one marine special character with a distinct model at the time. That model was a crippled Marneus Calgar, who'd lost both arms and had his back broken during the Battle for Macragge. Crossing that older Rubicon repaired his spine and, it would seem regrew his arms.

And, i hear a few mutterings, what inspired this post? I recently realised that I had a lot of unpainted marines, including the contents of Dark Imperium at one extreme, and half a box of RTB01 Imperial Space Marines at the other. While painting them i came upon a solution to how to integrate the Primaris into the Chapter that wouldn't have significant impact on the lore. My marines are based around a core of models from the 1980s, and, while I have added myriad newer models over the years, I've stuck with a markings scheme laid out in the Space Marine Paint Set of 1988 or 1989, with all of the markings crammed onto one shoulder. I've ignored the new split schema laid out in White Dwarf 129, and every subsequent publication. With the Primaris being new, outsiders coming into the Chapter, they'd have been equipped and drilled in the more modern markings, even if the Chapter they joined didn't use them. 

So, my solution to the Primaris Problem from months ago? Use the markings scheme that's been the norm for nearly 30 years. It's obvious once you think of it...